Dwayne's Syndrome

Some of you have asked why we went to Primary Children's Hospital. When Logan came into our home, it was evident that something funky was up with his eyes. Several people commented that he must have a lazy eye. I once had a lazy eye and knew what a lazy eye was, figured it was very possible. We took him to several eye doctors. You know that mom instinct where you know something is wrong. Several doctors told us it was nothing. Bryon and I joked that it was typically normal for a kid to be looking in one direction and for the other eye to shoot off in the other direction. A doctor here in Rexburg diagnosed Logan with Dwayne's Syndrome. Dwayne's Syndrome is a nerve that actually never develops in the eye. This nerve is necessary for normal eye movement, control, strength and function of the eye. Because this nerve never developed properly Logan's right eye is not able to move laterally from the center point out towards his ear. It is quite hard to diagnose because children with Dwayne's Syndrome are very good at compensating. It isn't until you actually clamp their head down to where they can't move it and focus on just the eye movement that it is apparent. It is quite funny to watch. We have clamped his head down so many times to see it for ourselves and to show others that now when we are done, that Logan will clamp our head down and move his finger for our eyes to follow. The doctor that diagnosed Logan with Dwayne's Syndrome basically said, he has Dwayne's Syndrome have a nice day. As we began studying the syndrome closer, we realized that with Dwayne's Syndrome usually there are other disorders. We also learned that Dwayne's Syndrome if left untreated can lead to lazy eyes, need for glasses, and can ultimately cause blindness. We were able to get a referral to Primary Children's hospital to the Moran Eye Center. That place is amazing and Logan's doctor is wonderful! He looked at Logan and agreed with the diagnosis of Dwayne's Syndrome. He wanted to see him again in six months to see how much his eyes changed in six months time. He gave us the option of just having the eye doctor here track his eyes yearly. We did not feel that confidant having a doctor that didn't give us very much information about the disease and didn't seem to know much about the syndrome himself track Logan. We opted to have the doctor at Primary Children's Hospital track Logan's eye. So now we just go down once a year for a check-up.

The doctor this time noticed a slight change but not enough to warrant doing something.

Anyway, that is probably more than you ever wanted to know about Dwayne's Syndrome.